Days after Tartarus
by Matanator
Summary: Percy and Annabeth have returned from Tartarus, but beneath their happy visage, their cheerful mask, lies a sadder, more sinister story. Oneshot, Percabeth.


Alex Morrison was what some would call a nerd or a geek but he didn't really consider himself to be either of those. Sure he was smart and dived into books and had glasses, but he wasn't about to start quoting Star Trek and make references to Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

He was a perfectly normal albeit smarter than average guy, dark brown hair, warm brown eyes hidden behind wire-framed glasses, a little shorter than most his age and a tad bit scrawny.

At school he was ignored by most, but a few of the meaner jocks that probably needed to compensate for something made themselves feel big by... not exactly bullying, but making life just that much more difficult to deal with. A shoulder here, paper balls thrown there, books knocked out of his hands as he passed them in the halls.

Alex had learned to deal with it, not retaliating but he generally tried to avoid them. That was, of course until Annabeth stood up for him.

Annabeth... amazingly beautiful with her honey-blonde hair in princess curls running down her back, her startling grey eyes that constantly analysed and calculated everything she saw, her fit and toned body with gorgeous long legs she was not afraid to show yet also didn't really put much effort about how she looked, yet she always looked perfect. In addition to how good she was already sounding like, she was incredibly intelligent. Top of the class in all her subjects, ace-ing each of her tests.

With the whole package of looks and smarts, anyone would have become arrogant, snobbish and stuck up. Not Annabeth. Far from it, Annabeth was the kindest and sweetest person you could meet. Well... to most people if you didn't try to hit on her. Unavoidably, with her looks, she gets a lot of attention from a lot of the guys at school. She fends them off with the claim of having a boyfriend, but most of them think it's just an excuse. Even if it were true that she did indeed have a boyfriend, it wasn't going stop the more... _forward_... ones.

But anyway, when Annabeth stopped those jocks from bullying him further, he may have developed a crush on her.

As he walked to his locker after his Ancient Greek class he was a little nervous but a little excited as well. Today, they had gotten a partnered assessment for Ancient Greek. To his (in his opinion) infinite luck, he was partnered with the one and only, Annabeth Chase.

Alex was broken out of his thoughts when he heard a heavily exasperated sigh followed by a thump, a very loud thud and a cry of pain. Looking around, he saw Annabeth standing over one of the school jocks, who was lying flat on his back groaning in pain, clutching his stomach. Alex could guess the jock was one of those guys who would be a little too forward with Annabeth.

And that was also another thing to add to the long list of things amazing about Annabeth. She wasn't the stereotypical 'damsel in distress'. She could, and would, shut you down hard in the most vicious ways, either verbally or physically.

"Stop bothering me." She said in an exasperated voice. She didn't even sound angry, merely annoyed.

Alex watched as she stepped over the jock, as calm as can be, and started waking over to where he was. She gave him a smile that made his heart flutter.

"H-hey" he said, stuttering nervously fidgeting with his hands. It's hard not to be when your crush was standing in front of you smiling radiantly.

"Hey, Alex. I know we just got it today, but would you mind spending maybe an hour to get the Greek assignment started? I don't like to procrastinate with these things."

"U-uh... Yeah... Of course we could." Alex mentally cursed in his head.

_'Good job Alex, chicks totally dig stuttering fools... Get it together!'_

"Awesome!" Annabeth smiled her brilliant smile again. "I was thinking we could go back to my house. I have all my resources there, if that's fine with you?"

"S-sure" Alex took a breath to calm his nerves, "I have most of my Greek stuff with me in my locker anyway, so your house sounds good. Though I'll need to tell my mum that I won't be home till later." He said pulling out his phone.

Annabeth looked thoughtful for a moment. "I should probably tell my housemates I'll be bringing someone over too."

Pulling out her own phone, she started to dial whilst Alex called his mother.

_"Hi, this is Natasha's phone, leave a mess-"_

Alex sighed. Voicemail. Instead, Alex sent a text message to his mum.

_'Hey mum, at a friend's house for a group assignment. Be back later'_

Alex looked up from his phone and heard part of Annabeth's conversation.

"-partner's coming over, so can you tell everyone no weirdness please... Yeah... Yeah sure, no worries... Thanks Haze... See you soon... Bye"

Annabeth ended her call and looked at Alex.

"All set. I have to get to class. I'll meet you in the parking lot after school, ok?"

"Ok, see you soon."

Annabeth walked away to her next class, whilst Alex sighed as he watched her go. He stayed there, staring dreamily at where he last saw her, rounding the corner of the hall when the school bell rang.

_'Oh crap! I'm late for class!'_

* * *

><p>Standing at the car park, waiting for Annabeth was nerve racking. Alex was going to his crush's apartment, together. He was thinking of all the things he could say to her, acting all suave and charismatic. The scenarios in which he would valiantly defend them from a gang of muggers as they travelled to her home, where he would fight them all off but be injured in the process, and then Annabeth would be crying by his body while she professed her love for him and kiss him, and-<p>

"Alex!"

He became flustered and blushed as he saw the object of his thoughts standing in front of him. Thank goodness people couldn't read minds.

"H-hey Annabeth" _'Still stuttering, damn it control yourself man!'_

"You ready to go?"

"Yeah, lead the way."

Annabeth smiled before turning and walking towards where the students parked their cars. Alex shouldered his school bag to follow. He was surprised when Annabeth stopped at a sleek grey Mercedeswith a decal of an owl in flight gripping a trident in its talons, coloured in a sea green, on the side.

He had never suspected that Annabeth would own such a fancy and _expensive_ car. He assumed that it'd be some cheap bomb of a car like every other high schooler who could drive owned. Like the rest of the cars surrounding them.

Then again he _was_ taking about Annabeth. You could never guess what she really does outside of school. Like all of her scars on her face and as far as he could tell, her body too, although she does a pretty good job covering them up. Where did she get them from?

They got into the car, Annabeth starting up the engine. The quiet hum of power reverberated through the car. The interior was as nice as he expected. Smooth, soft leather seats, and so many accessories he couldn't even begin to describe all of them.

As Annabeth pulled out of the parking lot, Alex tried to initiate some small talk.

"Nice car..." he started awkwardly. "Where'd you get it?"

Annabeth smiled faintly at his attempt to break the awkward silence, but she appreciated the effort.

"It's fairly new. All of my friends chipped in a few hundred each to get me this so that I didn't have to catch the bus every morning and afternoon. I wouldn't have minded getting a cheaper one but Leo insisted I drive something appropriate 'in the flair and style of Annabeth'.

Alex didn't know who this 'Leo' was but he hoped he was a brother or uncle, or just someone related to her so that the possibility of him being her boyfriend was out of the question.

"So… what should we start on for Greek? I mean... "Choose a part of Ancient Greek culture and create a 7 minute presentation" isn't exactly the clearest instructions."

Annabeth thought for a moment. "Yeah I guess so... Although the guidelines being so broad allows us a lot more freedom in what we want to do for our presentation."

"True enough." Before he knew it, Annabeth was already parking the car. But the house she stopped in front was something he was not expecting, but really, he didn't know what to expect.

It was huge! The design was beautiful, a mix of Greek and Roman that blended together perfectly.

Alex stared at the house in awe. He could see how Annabeth could own a Mercedes in high-school if this was her house. Annabeth saw his awe-struck face and smirked.

"You should see the inside."

Annabeth unlocked the front door and from what Alex could see past her shoulder, the hall alone looked fantastic. A crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling, casting an enchanting light across the area.

"Come on, I'll give you a tour."

Annabeth led him inside and began to show the different rooms. There was the living room, filled with comfortable looking couches situated around a small coffee table and facing a large TV sitting in an alcove in the wall.

There was a fancy fire place beneath the TV, and although it was lit, Alex didn't feel any heat coming from it. In fact, now that he thought about it, the house temperature was perfect, cool but not too cold, warm but not too hot.

She moved on, deeper into the house. There was a kitchen, dining room with a table that could fit dozens, although considering the size of the house, Alex guessed it would have a lot of inhabitants.

There were so many unique rooms too. There was, in the backyard, what looked to be a stable (although it was currently empty, he could see that it was put to use sometimes), a freaking _forge_ complete with anvil and tools and a furnace (why anyone would need a room for a forge was beyond him. Annabeth said one of her housemates liked metalworking as a hobby) and a training/gym room just to name a few.

"That's for keeping fit and to make sure our reflexes up to scratch." She explained when she showed him the gym. He didn't even know you could have all those things inside a house.

Alex could swear that the inside was actually bigger than what the outside appeared to be. Like... magically so. Like an Expansion Charm from Harry Potter.

The upstairs, second level, was mainly for relaxing and recreation, a swimming pool was there and right next to it was a games and recreation room, sort of like one you'd see at a hotel. It had a pool table, ping pong table, shelves stacked with board games and packs of cards. It was fully decked out with anything a teenager or child... or even an adult... would want for entertainment.

There was a large flat screen too, on top of a cabinet against the far wall and he could see at least four different gaming consoles connected to it, not to mention the shelf filled with video games from ceiling to floor.

With all this, it was a wonder how Annabeth didn't turn out to be a stuck up spoilt brat, as it was obvious that she _was_ spoilt, just without the 'brat' part.

She led him up to the _third_ floor, where she told him was the sleeping quarters. All the bedrooms were spread out like a dormitory at a boarding school. A single main hall with doors along the length, across each other. There were nine doors in total, which, considering the size of the house, Alex thought that there would be a lot more people.

Now that he thought about it, Alex was curious about how they had yet to encounter anyone in the huge house. Just as he was thinking that, a door opened quietly and a girl about their age stepped out.

She had choppy brown hair, done up in a braid hanging down her left shoulder with a feather stuck in it. Her eyes were constantly changing colour like a kaleidoscope whenever you blinked or titled your head. She wore plain faded-blue jeans and a loose white blouse.

She was pretty, beautiful even, but to Alex, he still found Annabeth to be more beautiful.

"Hey Pipes!"

"Annabeth! You're home!" replied 'Pipes' who quickly ran up to Annabeth and gave her a quick hug. She turned and looked at Alex who felt a little out of the loop.

"Hi, I'm Piper McLean." She said bubbly, sticking out her hand.

"Hey, I'm Alex Morrison, a friend of Annabeth." He replied, shaking her hand.

"Wait... McLean, as in Tristan McLean?"

"Yeah, he's my dad..."

Alex gaped in awe at being in the presence of the daughter of a celebrity.

'_So that's probably the reason this house is so extravagant." _Alex deduced.

"Pipes, where is everyone? I'd thought they'd be all over the house." Annabeth asked.

"Oh, Hazel told us about you bringing a mor-" she hesitated, glancing at Alex, and quickly amended her statement, "a guest over so she put us all on 'room-arrest' so we don't freak them out. And when she said 'we' I think she just meant Leo."

"Of course it's Leo. It's always Leo"

Alex didn't like the way she said Leo. Her tone was of exasperation of course, considering the context, but there was also a deep affection and a hint of admiration. He also remembered Annabeth mentioning Leo when she was taking about her car. He wasn't sure who this Leo was, but he didn't like where things were leading to.

Piper just smirked.

"Well, don't let me keep you from working, I was just heading down to get a glass of water."

She moved past them but then Annabeth called out after her.

"Wait up Pipes, how's Percy?" she asked in concern.

Piper looked a little worried and gazed sympathetically at Annabeth.

'_Another male? And sounds as if he's close to Annabeth as well...' _Alex just hoped he wasn't _too_ close.

"He's sleeping. After what happened yesterday, and now, this afternoon..." she trailed off, unsure what to say.

Annabeth's eyes widened in alarm. "This afternoon? What happened? Is he okay?" she asked in quick succession.

Piper's own eyes widened. "You mean he didn't tell you?"

The grey storm that was Annabeth's eyes thundered with anger. "What didn't he tell me?" she almost growled out.

Piper glancing cautiously at Alex. "He dealt with some _cheerleaders_ at school. He's not hurt, just exhausted." she gave a meaningful look, stressing the 'cheerleader' part.

Annabeth narrowed her eyes in anger and Alex could guess why. This Percy guy sounded like such a douchebag. 'Dealt with some cheerleaders'? Yeah, probably some popular man-whore jock going around with the cheerleading team.

This confused Alex, as from experience, he knew Annabeth _hated_ those types of people, and yet her voice sounded concerned for him when asking Piper about him.

But Alex had no idea of the real reason for Annabeth's anger. After everything they've been through together, after saving the world _multiple_ times, they still had to deal with monster crap and godly crap too.

Alex was still wondering about this 'Percy'. Perhaps Annabeth liked him despite his 'habits'. It always seemed that way. The nice, pure and innocent girls fall for the 'bad boy' rebel guys.

But he didn't know for sure yet. He couldn't judge.

"All right, thanks Piper."

Piper descended down the stairs, once again leaving Annabeth and Alex alone.

Quickly, Annabeth began walking towards the end of the hall. Stopping at a door with a plaque that read 'Percy's Room' with seaweed and corals decorating the border, she opened the door slowly, peering inside. The room was brightly lit, the sun streaming in from the open window, fresh air flowing through the room.

It was messy, as Alex suspected, with clothes strewn about, but it did not have all the inappropriate posters that he'd been expecting after hearing about Percy and his adventure with the 'cheerleaders'. Judging from the little titbit that Piper told them, he expected his room to be filled with all sorts of pictures and images of girls, but this room was clean... of such images.

The bed was made, albeit messily, although it clearly looked like someone had used it recently. But there was no sign of 'Percy'.

Annabeth, after seeing that Percy wasn't in, closed the door again and went to the room directly across. This door didn't have a plaque but it had the same insignia as the one on Annabeth's car.

An owl in flight, carrying a trident.

Alex guessed it was Annabeth's room. He looked curiously at the emblem.

"Annabeth... what's with the symbol on your-" Alex began but Annabeth cut him off, making a 'shushing' gesture.

She quietly and slowly opened the door.

The room was dark, slices of light slipped through the small gaps between the blinds of the window. It was clean, as expected of Annabeth, except for her desk, which was littered with blueprints, drawings and plans in an organised chaotic fashion.

Annabeth moved quietly to her bed, which Alex realised already had someone sleeping in it. He had messy black hair and judging by the contours of the blanket, he was quite tall. He was also hugging a pillow that had one of Annabeth's sweaters pulled over it. (Not creepy at all)

Annabeth smiled and gently kissed the top of his head. He mumbled something incoherent and squeezed the Annabeth-pillow tighter, burying his face into the sweater.

She went to her desk and grabbed a few sheets of paper before backing out of the room quietly, still with a gentle smile on her face. She led Alex to the room next to hers, which was a sun-filled small library. Settling herself at a table, she gestured for Alex to do the same before pulling out all her notes.

"So... who was that?

"That was my boyfriend, Percy."

Alex felt a little hurt and crushed. He always had hope that with her standing up for him, and being friends, meant that she might have liked him. And all the jocks she turned down because of a 'mysterious boyfriend' was actually and excuse because she was too shy to admit her feelings for him. He was more than a disappointed to learn the truth. She really did have a boyfriend. And yet, with the cheerleaders and Percy...

"Annabeth... why do you like Percy?"

Looking at him in surprise, Annabeth raised an eyebrow before replying.

"Well, we've known each other since we were twelve, so almost seven years ago. We hated each other at first, but we became friends, and got closer till we became a couple about a two years ago."

Alex felt a little put off, but he gathered his courage and forged onward.

"But what about... you know, him 'dealing with the cheerleaders' and stuff?" He said cryptically, trying not to explicitly mention his activities. But Annabeth got the gist of what he was trying to say and made the connections. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"I know what you are trying to say, and I appreciate your concern, but it is not needed. Percy would never do that and it's not what you think it is. What you heard from Piper is out of context for you. He is the most loyal and selfless person I have ever met and I can safely say I love him. Please don't question his loyalty again."

Alex was surprised at the confession of love for Percy. It was confident too, not at all embarrassed or confused for the fake affection most teenaged girls called 'love' nowadays. Alex was about to argue further but stopped when he saw her expression. It was truly intimidating, yet inspiring at the same time, a fierce loyalty and determination to defend her boyfriend's honour.

"All right, I'm sorry..."

There was an awkward pause, before Alex decided to move on.

"So what part of Greek culture do you want to do?"

Annabeth instantly replied. "Absolutely nothing related to the Underworld."

At Alex's questioning look, she simply said "It just gives me the creeps."

Alex knew there was another reason behind it, because when she utter the word, she shuddered, turning pale and her hands trembled. It was barely noticeable, but Alex saw it all, and it was not a normal reaction to a mythical place... a scary death-filled mythical place. But he let it slide.

"Alright, let's do the opposite then. How about we do a timeline sort of thing? From creation to when the Greek Empire fell?"

"Sounds like a plan." Annabeth agreed.

"So a rough idea, Ouranos and Gaia giving birth to the world and the Titans. Then Kronos cut up Ouranos and cast his bits into the ocean, then the rise of the Olympians, how Zeus cut up Kronos like he did to Ouranos and cast _his_ bits into Tartarus-"

As he spoke of Gaia and Kronos, Annabeth got paler and paler, her hands shaking even more, and as soon as he said 'Tartarus', he knew there was something wrong. There was a loud bang and he looked up to see Annabeth push herself away from the table, away from him. She stood abruptly and in the process knocking over her chair, clattering noisily onto the floor. Her face was pale, unhealthily so, she looked like a ghost. Sweat started to bead on her forehead and her eyes... They were wavering and shaking, focusing on things that weren't there.

"No... Please..." She whispered.

"Annabeth... What-" Alex was cut off when she collapsed on our ground and started to scream. It was as if she was being tortured, her cry filled with pain and agony. Alex didn't know what to do. Chills ran up his spine at her screams. They were almost unhuman, like a ghastly horror movie of demonic _things _incapable of making any other sound. He had never experienced anything like this before.

"Percy!" She screamed out, whilst writhing in pain, tears streaming down her face.

Almost instantly, the door slammed open, Percy racing into the room. He ran over to Annabeth and engulfed her in a hug, her back against his chest, his head next to her ear, alternating between whispering and reassuring her to kissing the top of her head, his own tears dampening her hair.

"Annabeth... It's okay, we're alive, we're together..."

Alex suddenly noticed the rest of the occupants of the house were in the library too. There were four boys and five girls, including Annabeth and Percy who were now slowly rocking back and forth, Percy humming a soft tune.

There was a buff Asian with a babyish face, his expression was serious, a hard frown of unreadable emotion which did not go well with his baby face. Alex would have been amused if not for the situation. Next to him was a shorter, darker skinned girl with long frizzy brown hair. Her hazel eyes watered with tears as she looked on at the scene.

Piper was there too, her hair still in a braid with a feather in it, and she was clutching the arm of a tall blond handsome guy, with a scar on his lip. Both had expressions of deep sadness.

There was a Latino elfish-looking boy whose hands could not stop moving in agitation. There were constantly reaching into a tool belt that hung around his waist but pulling out nothing, just gripping something before relaxing and tensing again.

Next to him was a girl wearing a sleeveless dress, in a similar fashion to what the Greeks would wear, her caramel hair braided over one shoulder.

Lastly, there was a girl with dark hair with electric blue highlights in them. She rocked the whole 'goth-punk' theme with heavy eyeliner and black leather except for a silver tiara on her head which looked very much out of place.

She was the first to notice him.

She gestured for him to leave, as well as the rest of the group.

"C'mon guys, give them some space."

They all filed out, leaving Percy to comfort Annabeth.

Alex was last out, closing the door to shut out the noise of Annabeth's screams and as soon as he closed it, the gothic punk girl grabbed him by the collar and shoved him against the wall roughly. Her eyes were frightening, a raging storm of lightning in her electric blue eyes.

"What did you do?" She growled out.

Alex feared for his life her expression was so deadly, he couldn't speak, frozen in fear. Thankfully, Piper came to his aid.

"Thalia! Lay off him, he couldn't have known."

The punk girl, Thalia, glanced at Piper before releasing his collar but she still glared at him.

"What did you do?" She repeated, though slightly less aggressively.

The rest of the group looked on, waiting for his answer. It was intimidating to be at the centre of attention, with more than a few glares directed at him.

He finally found enough of his voice to answer her.

"I didn't do anything I swear, we were just discussing what we were going to do for our Greek assignment when she started screaming."

"Did you say anything related to the Underworld?" The girl with frizzy brown hair asked quickly.

"No... No, she specifically mentioned not to do the Underworld and so I suggested creation with Ouranos and Kronos and then Zeu-" Alex stopped, realising that he has indeed said something relating to the Underworld.

'_Tartarus'_

"I said Tartarus..." He said softly.

He could feel the temperature drop, despite the warm sunny day outside. Disbelief was etched onto a few of the faces and some were shocked but the rest were angry.

"You said WHAT?!" Thalia nearly screamed.

Alex was so confused... "What's so wrong about Tar-"

"Do not speak the name!" The girl with caramel hair cut him off quickly.

"But what's so wrong with it?"

Piper glanced at the rest of the group. They got the message and dispersed, but not without sending some glances his way, and the girl with frizzy hair stayed.

"What's wrong with _that_ word…" she began, carefully, glancing at the girl with frizzy hair.

She nodded and Piper turned back to Alex.

"They were kidnapped by an underground criminal group who goes by _that_ name. All of their important objectives and people and such were codenamed with things of the Underworld. That's why she reacts to anything related to the Underworld. I guess you could say she has a form of post-traumatic stress disorder."

Alex eyes widened. You would always hear about these things on the news, but you never really felt worry, always thinking 'this'll never happen to me'. But something like that happening to Annabeth… it was so close to home…

"In fact, Percy has it too, but to a lesser extent. When Annabeth was captured, Percy had the chance to escape, but he let himself get captured to stay with Annabeth. And together, they managed to escape with the help of some of the other captives."

All of Alex's previous thoughts and doubts on Percy flew out the window. Annabeth was right. His loyalty was unquestionable.

His crush on Annabeth faded, but affection and admiration still lingered. He doubted it would ever fade but he knew he could never break them apart, not that he even wanted to now. They _needed _each other, after what they had been through together.

"I-I'm sorry…"

"It's fine, I suppose. They'll make it through. They always have."

"I guess you'll have to reschedule your work day with Annabeth. I'll show you out of the house" Said the girl with frizzy hair.

Alex followed her down the stairs and through the house. Along the way, he was feeling extremely guilty for making Annabeth have to relive what was probably a nightmare he could never comprehend.

They reached the front door, the girl opening it and stepping aside to let him pass.

"Can you please tell Annabeth that I'm sorry? And Percy too… I didn't know and…" he trailed off, unable to say anymore.

The girl nodded.

"I will."

She closed the door, leaving Alex on his own.

As he walked away from the house, he turned and looked to the third floor, at a window to the left side.

He could still hear her… screaming.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Well, that took a darker turn than I had expected, but I was influenced by CreepyPasta which I had just read a story from. Well, anyway, I hope you like it. This is a oneshot and will remain that way, however I will probably add other oneshots eventually.**

**In case you didn't recognise the descriptions, the people of the house were: Frank, Hazel, Piper, Jason, Leo, Calypso and obviously Percy and Annabeth.**

**Please write a review and favourite if you liked.**

**~Matantor**


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